Narzy Hilspeck

The party spent the night in town and on a whim shouted the bar to free ale all night while a local bard entertained. Calor, Thom and Sempre Petre awoke with heavy hangovers and it was decided that the day would be best spent in town. Thom caught up with a local mage Derik who took a liking to the drunken fool and agreed to trade some spells. Calor discovered that the Amulet of Pelor was empowered with Protection from Evil which could be activated once per day and the party restocked their supplies including purchasing additional rope.
The following day the party descended back into the mines. They headed directly for level 3 of the mines and after some indecision attacked a small group of zombie miners. Initially the intense noise on this level aided the party allowing them to claim first strike however the noise also masked the presence of 3 more zombies resulting in a tough battle although the party prevailed.
The noise in this level is so loud it is causing challenges for the party – confounding their senses and making it difficult to concentrate on spell casting. The party also discover rudimentary rails through this level for moving ore carts. This level of the mine is obviously still being worked.
The party explore a long and circuitous passageway with several branches. Outside one room the sounds of rock being mined are obvious but the party decide it is probably safe to ignore and move on.
The next room they come to is locked but Deacom Black easily picks the lock and steals a look inside. He spies at least 2 more zombie miners loading ore into a mine cart just beyond the door. Using the cover of the miners noise the party decide to attack. Led by King Iskander and Sir Granford the party burst into the room gaining initiative. They dispatch of one zombie and realise that there are actually 3 more as well as a tall robed and bespectacled figure standing behind a desk.
The man begins to speak challenging the heroes and suggesting they hand over all their magic in return for their lives! Sempre invokes a sphere of darkness centred on this man and half the room is enveloped in darkness which hides the robed man and at least one zombie. The fight becomes chaotic as the noise and the darkness confound everyone. Suddenly the robed man who has identofoed himself as Narzy Hilspeck appears to the west of the darkness and threatens Sir Granford and then appears to the east of the darkness threatening King Iskander and Calor. On being attacked he disappears back into the darkness. Calor and Sir Granford both drop their weapons and plunge into the darkness attempting to batter the desk into this mysterious spell caster!
Calor stumbles into the desk and knocks himself out as he flies over it while Sir Granford actually pushes clear of the gloom and bumps into Narzy. Narzy promptly casts Hold Person and stops Sir Granford dead in his tracks! The other party members are unable to see Narzy beyond the darkness and battle on against the Zombies or fire arrows into the darkness.
The battle turns against the heroes as Narzy unleashes a fireball catching Deacom, Sempre, King and Thom. Thom drops unconscious from his wounds and King Iskander stoops to attend him after dispatching another zombie. 2 more zombies then appear from the ore tunnel and attack King and Deacom causing the party to become further splintered in their efforts.
Several party members run into the darkness – either to seek out Narzy or to avoid the zombies attacking from the rear. Luck favours the party and they stumble in the right direction and encounter Narzy in the far corner of the room. Narzy isn’t done yet though! He unleashes burning hands scorching several party members and this time Deacom Black falls unconscious from his wounds. Eventually Sir Granford shakes the effects of the spell and Calor regains his senses and together they tackle and subdue Narzy before he is killed by another knife thrust!
Sempre ends the darkness spell and the party dispatch the last of the zombies and begin to patch themselves up. The party have been badly mauled in this encounter but Narzy’s spell book and scrolls will prove to be very useful to Thom!